Global Victories in Hollywood’s Arena

“Gladiator” and “Almost Famous” were the big winners Sunday night at the 58th annual Golden Globes ceremony as the Ridley Scott-directed Roman epic won best picture, drama, while the Cameron Crowe nostalgic rock memoir won best picture, musical or comedy.

“Gladiator” also won for Hans Zimmer’s best original score, while Kate Hudson was named best supporting actress for “Almost Famous.” Two other highly touted films also won two Globes. “Traffic,” Steven Soderbergh’s sprawling drug thriller, written by Stephen Gaghan, won for best screenplay and best supporting actor for Benicio Del Toro. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which was not eligible for a best film nomination, won best director for Ang Lee, as well as best foreign-language film.

Lee’s win in the best director category marks the first time the Globes have given this award to the director of a foreign-language film.

Even though the Globes are not always an accurate barometer for Academy Award success, the results signal a wide-open race when the Oscars are handed out March 25. However, “Gladiator’s” and “Crouching Tiger’s” major awards, which were handed out at a star-studded ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, make them the early favorites in an especially competitive year.

Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, two of Hollywood’s biggest box-office attractions, won best actress and actor in a drama. Roberts won for her role in “Erin Brockovich” as a crusading legal assistant who helps a small town take on Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting the local water supply.

“Oh good golly!” Roberts exclaimed happily. “I’m just shamelessly filled with joy!” She singled out “Erin Brockovich, the real gal,” whom she said “should be a lesson that we are all powerful individuals who can make a difference in the world.”

Hanks won his Globe for “Cast Away,” in which he plays a Federal Express agent marooned on a tropical island for four years. Hanks, who lost more than 50 pounds for the part, spends the majority of the movie alone with a volleyball named Wilson as his only companion. Hanks, who previously won in this category for “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump,” went on to win the Oscar for those roles.

The actor singled out his makeup artist, Daniel C. Striepeke, saying, “He did Olivier’s nose in ‘Spartacus,’ Elvis’ tan in ‘Viva Las Vegas’ and my scars in ‘Cast Away.’ ”

It was a big evening for DreamWorks, the studio that had a hand in “Gladiator,” “Almost Famous” and “Cast Away,” which won five awards among them.

It was also an evening when there were as many surprises as expected victories. “Almost Famous,” which award prognosticators had written off after it did poorly at the box office last fall, beat out such favorites as Miramax’s “Chocolat” and DreamWorks’ “Chicken Run.” Writer-director Cameron Crowe, who based the film on his early years as a 1970s rock journalist, thanked his mother, played by Frances McDormand in the film, saying she “started the ball rolling by letting me go on the road with Led Zeppelin at 16.”

Lee was an unlikely winner for directing “Crouching Tiger,” especially since Steven Soderbergh had won all the major critics’ awards for “Traffic” and “Erin Brockovich.”

“I cannot tell you how surprised I am,” said Lee. “I have nothing prepared to say. I guess I could start with my wife for being a role model for the tough women I portray in the movie.”

The atmosphere at the Globes is considerably less formal than the Oscars. Elizabeth Taylor, on hand to name the best picture winner, got confused and nearly read the winner before she had introduced the nominees. Producer Dick Clark rushed out to offer guidance to the veteran star.

Many in Hollywood view the Globes, handed out by the roughly 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., as a glorified popularity contest. Studio marketers are openly skeptical of the qualifications of many members, who are often part-time journalists and have developed a reputation as being influenced by such studio blandishments as dinners and junkets.

Yet the industry treats Globe nominations and awards with considerable respect, largely because of their value as a marketing tool. The Globes have become a media event second only to the Oscars; last year’s awards were seen by approximately 275 million viewers in 125 countries. A Globe victory will be prominently featured in newspaper ads for the next eight weeks.

The Globes’ value as Oscar predictors is more open to question. They certainly give films considerable marketing momentum, but the Globes are at best only a partial barometer for academy preferences. In the two months between the Globes and the Oscar ceremonies, momentum often shifts as films either gain box-office acceptance or pick up other prestigious awards.

Two years ago, for example, Jim Carrey won for best actor in a motion picture, drama, for “The Truman Show,” yet wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar.

In the 1990s, only seven of 10 Globe best feature-length drama winners went on to win the Academy Award for best picture, while six Globe best director winners went on to capture the Oscar. By comparison, nine out of 10 winners of the Directors Guild of America awards, whose nominations will be announced this morning, won best director Oscars.

The award for most surprised nominee went to Renee Zellweger, who won best actress in a comedy or musical feature for “Nurse Betty,” a black comedy about a small-town waitress obsessed by a soap-opera star. The actress was apparently in the restroom when the award was announced. She rushed from the back of the ballroom to the stage. “Oh, my God,” she said, still out of breath. “I have lipstick on my teeth. What an amazing thing! This is a moment I’ll never forget because it’s a moment I almost didn’t have!”

George Clooney won best actor in a comedy or musical feature for his role as an escaped Depression-era convict with a penchant for pomade in the Coen brothers’ quirky “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” After beating out such respected competition as Robert De Niro, Mel Gibson and Jim Carrey, Clooney joked: “When you look at the names of the actors in the category I’m in . . . you gotta figure, I’m gonna win this.”

Al Pacino was this year’s recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. In what could best be described as a Method-acting acceptance speech, Pacino thanked a variety of teachers, various filmmakers and fellow actors.

Hudson, who played a rock groupie in “Almost Famous,” was, 31 years later, a winner in the same category as her mother, Goldie Hawn, who won best supporting actress for “Cactus Flower.”

Coming just one day after George W. Bush’s inauguration as president, the evening was peppered with political jokes and jibes. Clooney ended his acceptance speech by telling the crowd: “I’m the illegitimate love child of John Ashcroft,” referring to Bush’s controversial nominee for attorney general.

Even on the TV front, politics was a frequent subject. NBC’s “The West Wing” won best dramatic series, and Martin Sheen won best actor in a drama for his portrayal of the show’s brainy, liberal president. “I’m sure this is a big mistake, but I’m going to keep this until the recount is final,” he quipped, adding “to the incoming administration, I want to assure you of our continuing support on ‘The West Wing.’ Despite the events in Florida, you’re still going to have Jed Bartlett to kick around for four more years.”

HBO won four awards, including two for “Sex and the City”--best TV series, comedy or musical, and best actress in a comedy or musical for Sarah Jessica Parker. Both the series and Parker won last year.

Judi Dench won best actress in a movie or miniseries for HBO’s “The Last of the Blond Bombshells,” and Vanessa Redgrave was the recipient of best supporting actress in a series, movie or miniseries, for HBO’s “If These Walls Could Talk II.”

Showtime’s “Dirty Pictures” won best movie or miniseries for its dramatization of censorship controversy surrounding a Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit in Ohio. And Brian Dennehy won best actor in a movie or miniseries for the cable network’s presentation of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”

Sela Ward won best actress in a dramatic series for her role in ABC’s “Once and Again.” Robert Downey Jr., in his first role since being released from prison on drug charges, won best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie for Fox’s “Ally McBeal.”

Kelsey Grammer won best actor in a comedy or musical series for NBC’s long-running “Frasier.”

If the audience had a sentimental favorite, it was probably veteran troubadour Bob Dylan, who received a standing ovation after winning best original song for “Things Have Changed” from “Wonder Boys.”